This Is Not A Test

For those of you following my current injury, I saw my orthopedist yesterday and we have a path forward.

Initial diagnosis: lumbar contusion with facet arthropathy — which is really just a fancy way of saying I hit my low back hard and there’s damage to the joints in my lumbar spine. With a little luck, the damage is limited to the cartilage and not the vertebrae themselves. Massive doses of anti-inflammatories for 5 days will give us more data. From there, we’ll know whether the damage is beyond the soft tissue and into the bones.

In the meantime, I’ve been cleared to move in any way that doesn’t hurt — which really isn’t much. But still I got up today and tried some things. I’ve never been one to let what I can’t do stop me from doing what I can. My options were limited but I was grateful to move.

As trying as this is, I do not believe that this is a test. It isn’t some phase in my life that I will ultimately pass or fail. The choice is this: grow or don’t. But it’s not a test.

I don’t believe that challenges and setbacks are here to test our resolve. In adopting that sort of mindset, you’d have to first make the underlying assumption that life/God/the universe is somehow against you. You’d have to hold the belief that this is some sort of game designed to knock you off track. I don’t believe that’s how this stuff works.

Instead, I believe that life is here to support our evolution. It offers us moments just like this where we have to stop and see the things we haven’t been looking at, to listen to the things we haven’t been hearing, and to appreciate the stuff we take for granted.

No friends, this is not a test. It’s an opportunity for growth. This is not an obstacle. It’s an invitation to walk a different path, to take in a different view, to have a new experience that will unveil untapped potential, and to build a new level of confidence.

This is not a test, it’s a golden opportunity and I plan to take it.

I’ve got lots of online yoga practices that are appropriate for this injury and most other injuries up on my Yoga for Durability Series on Vimeo. Only $10/month gets you unlimited access to literally hours of beginner-friendly practices you can do anytime, anywhere.